Movie Marathon
by Miah-Arthur
Summary: Dan thinks he's past the extreme hazing he suffered as a rookie, and after months of hanging out watching action flicks with Lucifer, he thinks he's ready to bring back a part of his sex life he hasn't acknowledged since college. He's wrong on both counts.


**Notes:** Thank you to my betas: Maimat and Katadactyl. Thanks to Obliobla for encouraging me to finish this story, and telling me I'd have at least one reader for such a fic as this.

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**Movie Marathon**

by

Miah . Arthur

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Lucifer had nearly ruined it the first time he and Daniel had 'hung out' by diving into the role with a costume change, 'man cave' modifications to the penthouse, and stereotypical foods. Daniel took one step off the elevator, shook his head, and stepped back on it. Thankfully, something had changed his mind. He'd taken charge, walking through the scene and correcting Lucifer's assumptions. 'I wanted to hang out with you, Lucifer, not some idealized version based on movies,' he'd said. Lucifer's heart had nearly hammered its way out of his chest, but he'd caught his breath, listened to Daniel's advice, and they'd watched the _Body Bags_ movies. The next week they'd watched _The Weaponizer_ spin-off franchise, and he'd fretted the whole day that it would be the last time they had reason to 'hang out'.

Then Daniel jovially suggested _Operation Delta Force_ for the next week. They'd worked through franchise after franchise over the last three months, but last week, Daniel suggested they go through _Body Bags_ again. It was Lucifer's favorite franchise, and he readily agreed.

Lucifer fussed with the popcorn bowls on the coffee table. He wore his normal suit pants and white button-up shirt, partially unbuttoned. No mimicry mistakes this time. They'd been quite relaxed with one another lately; Daniel tended to sprawl against him as the movies progressed throughout the day. Lucifer had never experienced such casual, nonsexual touch before. He'd come to appreciate the trust and openness greatly, so he wasn't sure where this snack-rearranging nervousness originated.

The elevator doors slid open. Dressed in jeans with his plain grey t-shirt untucked, and his jacket slung over his shoulder, Daniel looked casual, but it was a bluff. His hair was soft and sleep mussed with no gel. He had bags under his eyes, and his shoulders curled in. Daniel usually had a swagger that announced to the world that he was confident, arrogant even, yet while his movements were by no means timid as he approached, they did not telegraph confidence.

Daniel smiled broadly, overly so, and said, "You ready to start?" He joined Lucifer on the sofa, but leaned against the far armrest, more than a cushion left between them.

Lucifer picked up the remote from the arm of the sofa and passed it over to Daniel, his nerves not settled at all. As the movie progressed, things settled into a more normal pattern. Daniel reacted at the right places, they did their favorite lines along with the movie, as they had the first time they'd watched these. They ordered pizza in the break between the first and second movies and ate it during the second. It was all very normal.

Except it wasn't. Daniel remained at his end of the sofa. Lucifer had caught him several times glancing over, then back to the screen. He'd spent a long time in the bathroom between the second and third movies, but testily answered, "Fine." in response to Lucifer's asking if he felt okay today. After he missed the start of their favorite line of _Body Bags 3_, Lucifer couldn't stop staring.

Daniel paused the movie. Lucifer braced himself for the worst. Daniel was done with this. He was tired of these rendezvous and...he turned to face Lucifer and said in flat, serious voice, "I want you to have sex with me."

Lucifer's eyebrows shot up. This was the last thing he'd expected from his friend. He'd thought the other man a zero on the Kinsey Scale given his complete non-reaction to the magnetic pull that he had never tried to temper until after he had begun to work with the detective. The bold proposition made something inside Lucifer squirm. He'd thought he understood their relationship. Daniel wanting to break it off, he could fathom. He'd even expected it to happen someday, but he had finally learned that meaningful friendship fulfilled certain needs that anonymous sex never could. He didn't have a personal frame of reference, but everything he'd seen on television told him that sex between friends changed things irrevocably. It wouldn't be meaningless, but could they still be friends?

Daniel fidgeted and kept his eyes downcast, but not, Lucifer thought, to avoid his ability to draw out answers. His answer mattered to Daniel a great deal. The question had not been asked lightly.

Finally, he said, "If that is"—he took a steadying breath—"what you desire." The phrase felt far too glib to use on a friend.

Daniel let out a shuddery sigh. He made no move to remove his clothing. Lucifer scooted closer on the sofa. He stopped when he saw the effort Daniel was putting into not fleeing. Lucifer moved back against the arm of the sofa, as far apart as he could get.

Daniel's head shot up. "I thought y-you were—"

"Daniel, I would never do something against my partner's will."

"I asked, didn't I?"

"People request things they don't really desire all the time." Could he have given Daniel the impression that he expected sex—or worse—needed it in order to continue their friendship?

"Daniel, have you ever done this before?"

"I've always thought of myself as straight. My whole life." Lucifer's heart fell, but Daniel went on. "In college, though, one day my roommate and I were watching _Weird Science_ and, being a teenage boy, I had a raging hard-on." He trailed off, looking into the past.

Daniel's body language loosened up, and Lucifer judged he was comfortable with where this story was headed.

"Anyway, we were squeezed together on this tiny loveseat, because we were lucky even that fit in the room. So we're both squirming from straining at our jeans, and Matt looks over at me and says, 'This is stupid. We both know we want to jerk it. Let's just do it instead of fighting over the shower later.'" Daniel smiled. "So we did. We were both in sports in high school, we'd seen plenty of other guys' junk, so we weren't exactly shy. We ended up sitting there naked with the movie still playing."

He paused long enough for Lucifer to wonder if that was the end of the story. His body language had relaxed to a sprawl that would be perfect for mutual—

Daniel seemed to read his thoughts. He smiled at Lucifer, genuine this time, then continued. "We were hard again way before the movie was over. Teenagers, you know? Matt reached over and started jacking me, and it just felt right to do the same for him. I had never come so hard in my life. It didn't take long to move on to blow jobs and then to sex."

Daniel looked up with sudden sincerity. "We weren't dating. We never considered ourselves gay. We both had girlfriends and parties and other stuff that kept us busy, but if everything else fell through, we'd put on a movie and end up fucking. We stayed roommates all four years. Then went our separate ways. I kept dating women, so did Matt."

Daniel's gaze drifted toward the distance for a moment, a scowl forming, but he shook it away, and hastily pulled his shirt off. He waggled an eyebrow at Lucifer as he slowly reached for his jeans.

The suddenness of Daniel's transition from the strain he'd shown all day, the flash of something darker, and then to stripping kept Lucifer in his seat. Something felt very wrong about this, even as the top button popping open on Daniel's jeans diverted blood flow below his belt. He licked his lips, mouth inexplicably dry, "To be clear, you are looking for a friends with benefits relationship here?"

Daniel's hand stopped moving, his fingertips turning white from the force of his grip. The color drained from his face. He shook his head, mouth opening and closing before rasping out, "That's what they"—He cleared his throat—"What they used to call it." His arms wrapped tightly around his torso and he turned his face away.

Lucifer had never suspected Daniel had been a victim of sexual abuse, even when he had searched Daniel's mind. "Who was it?" he asked gently. Human law might be inadequate to exact justice, but he would make the guilty regret it.

Daniel swallowed convulsively. "I knew better than to speak up. Grant, Malcolm, Paolucci, their buddies in the CRASH unit, they'd been kicking my ass since I joined the force. We had training, you know? In domestic violence and tactics of abusers, but I never understood that that was happening to me until years later. I was young and idealistic, alone in the city. They 'took me under their wing'. Let me hang out with them in off hours. Switched back and forth between kicking my ass, being my friend, running me down, praising me. I was already working for them, doing what they wanted. I got cocky." He shuddered. "I—"

He bowed his head and muttered. "I _knew_ better than to say anything."

"What was it, Daniel?"

"There was a case. A couple of boys. Roommates. Doing the same thing Matt and I had. Both on the football team. Team found out and beat the hell out of them. Nearly killed them. Sodomized them with a beer bottle. I knew better than saying anything, but they were standing around mocking these boys. I was only a few years older, still a rookie. Matt was still fresh in my mind. I told Malcolm and Paolucci off in front of the whole crime scene. I embarrassed them. And somehow they knew."—ahem—"they knew about what I'd done. I-I didn't think what I said made it obvious." He broke off and rubbed the back of his head.

"You were willing to defend those boys. That was likely enough."

"The first time was the next week. They had their buddy in dispatch cover up my disappearance from my shift and send me on a call to an empty building. They were waiting for me. Five of them. Ordered me to strip. I fought. Fought so damn hard, man. I-I st-still ended up naked, on my knees, handcuffed to a pole. I should have just done what I was told. I should have—" He broke off and scrubbed his hands over his face.

He looked as if he might vomit, and no bins were within reach, but Lucifer didn't dare move to retrieve one.

"They gave me a choice." His laugh bordered on hysterical. "A _choice_. As if. Do what they wanted. No biting." He gulped and curled over his stomach before he regained control and continued. "Do it willingly, and they'd uncuff me, take me home. If I refused, they'd take what they wanted anyway and let the local gang know where to find me. What kind of choice is that? I always _chose_ to-to—."

He bolted to the bathroom and Lucifer heard retching. He debated a moment whether Daniel would prefer physical compassion at the moment or prefer not to be trapped by his proximity. The retching continued, though Lucifer could hear that Daniel's stomach had long since emptied. Right. He'd heard this sort of vomiting before after he had allowed guests to indulge irresponsibly. Water and antacids and comfort it was to be.

Lucifer set the water and cup with the chewable tablets on the vanity. Daniel's feet stretched out through the water closet door. His gasping breaths were punctuated by further retches. Lucifer wet a washcloth. He stood to the side of the door and said, "Daniel, I'm going to place a cold washcloth on the back of your neck."

He waited a moment for a protest and then followed through. Daniel's feet twitched at the cold, but the retching slowed and then stopped. After a moment, Daniel's feet pulled out of sight into the stall and he groaned.

Lucifer silently retrieved the water and antacids. "Daniel, I have something for your stomach here. I'm going to set it in the doorway. I want you to know that you may stay there or move wherever you want, I will not hinder you, and I will leave if you wish." He placed the items. When no request that he leave was made, he sat on the floor, leaning against the outer wall of the water closet.

Lucifer heard Daniel fumbling with the water bottle, rinsing his mouth, and chewing the antacids. His ragged breathing slowly calmed.

"Sorry, man." The chuckle Daniel gave held no humor.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Daniel."

"I…" he fell silent for long enough that Lucifer wondered if he would continue, but at length, he mumbled, "I thought I was past all that."

"Traumatic memories do have the tendency to ambush one."

Lucifer felt the thump of Daniel's head against the wall.

"I just… I backed them into a corner. They had to—"

"No. They didn't. They didn't have to hurt you, Daniel."

His voice shook. "I'm sorry. I recognize that now. I do." He made a sound that tried to be a laugh, but came out more like a sob. "I—shit. I got all wound up in it. I know they were bastards, and it's not my fault, it took a long time to get to that, and..." He cleared his throat and shuffled around the space. "I can't always stop myself from thinking about all the chances I had to-to get away, to make it stop. I was a grown man, damn it. I should have—"

His head thumped against the wall again. "No. I know the psychology behind it. I know why I couldn't make it stop. It-I just don't think about it, normally."

"Have you ever talked to anyone about this, Daniel?"

"No, man. Who could I even talk to? The Department shrink? I like my job. I've put everything into it. Ugh. Even in my marriage, I could never leave work, and now it's all I've got left. It's not so bad now. Malcolm and Paolucci are dead. The others are retired or posted far away. I just don't think about it. It works...most of the time."

Lucifer wasn't sure of the best response. If Daniel had never spoken to anyone before, would it be a breach of this fragile connection to suggest a therapist not associated with the police department?

Dan shifted again, his shoes sliding across the tile and muffled sounds of cloth rubbing against the wall between them. "I guess...I guess that's killed the mood. I-I should go?"

This, Lucifer was more sure of. "If you want to. I would never make you stay or go. I would also never pressure you to do any sexual activity you aren't ready to do."

"I know you wouldn't. I-I _liked_ what Matt and I had. It was simple and fun. Not meaningless! I would never do that to you. It was an extension of our friendship. You're the first guy I've felt close enough to, to ask after-after what happened."

"I'm honored, Daniel, that you view our friendship so fondly. It means a great deal to me, as well."

"So what now?"

Lucifer recognized the plea for an out in Daniel's voice. "We could finish the movie."

After a long pause, Daniel said, "Yeah. Yeah, man. Can you make some popcorn? I'll be out in a minute."

"Of course."

In the kitchen, Lucifer gripped the countertop. Hellfire burned bright in his eyes. Malcolm was just the gift that kept on giving wasn't he? His scars throbbed with regret. For the first time since he'd had Maze remove them, Lucifer wished he had his wings. The _fun_ he had in mind for that odious excuse for a soul, but his wings were gone, burned by his own hand.

Some of the villains were still alive, still within his reach.

He shook his head and blinked away the fire. Daniel turned on the water in the bathroom, and Lucifer heard splashing. He could be patient. The men who inflicted this pain would meet him, eventually. He had eternity to punish them: far more important today was making the requested popcorn and watching a movie with his friend.

It took twenty minutes before Daniel left the bathroom, but he moved with his usual swagger when he did. He settled onto the cushion next to Lucifer, almost touching. Lucifer held out the remote, and Daniel took it, fidgeting with it before saying, "Thanks, man. For listening."

"Any time." Lucifer turned sideways so he could look directly at Daniel. He was a bit pale, and a blood vessel had burst in one eye leaving a vivid splash of red beside the blue, but his shoulders were straight and his chin up. Lucifer patted his shoulder, the same way he had many times before, and was pleased that it elicited a flash of a smile. "Daniel, I will always make time to listen."

Daniel nodded. "I have a feeling I'll be taking you up on that." He pressed start on the remote, but paused it again. "Maybe next week, we can watch _Weird Science_?"

Lucifer turned back to face the television. "I'd like that."


End file.
